An investigator with the Lubbock County Criminal District Attorney's office carries out bags of synthetic pot during a Thursday afternoon raid at the Smokin' Js smoke shop on 50th Street. The store was one of four investigators raided. Matt Powell, Lubbock County's criminal district attorney, sent Lubbock smoke shops a notice June 6 to remove the products from their stores or they would be prosecuted.

About a week after receiving a notice from Matt Powell, Lubbock County’s criminal district attorney, to remove synthetic pot from their stores or face prosecution, four smoke shops were raided by his investigators, who seized loads of contraband.

Investigators also made an arrest following an undercover buy at one store.

Employees at Smokin’ Js turned customers away as investigators searched their store. A white sheet of copy paper with “Closed” written on it in red ink was taped on the store’s front door.

Store staff declined an opportunity to comment after investigators concluded the search of their store.

Todd Smith, the district attorney’s chief investigator, said he executed four search warrants at smoke shops in Lubbock and confiscated thousands of dollars worth of contraband.

“We will be following up these search warrants with arrest warrants for some people there at those businesses,” he said.

Synthetic pot is typically sold as potpourri and labeled as not for human consumption. However, it is laced with a chemical combination designed to mimic the effects of illegal drugs when it is consumed.

The health risks linked to the use of the substance include heart disease, seizures, suicidal thoughts and death.

They are packaged with names that range from amusing to ominous, such as Scooby Snax, Dr. Feelgood, Grim Reaper and Death Grip.

Other times, stores package the product themselves.

“This is stuff that’s being bought in bulk (buy stores); nobody knows what’s in it and it’s being sold with just an individual label on it,” Smith said.

The search warrants came after investigators made undercover buys at multiple smoke shops in the two days following Powell’s news conference Tuesday about putting the stores selling synthetic pot on notice, he said.

“I guess you just shake your head,” he said. “We’ve hit places that did not sell, which I’m thrilled about.”

The stores raided were two Tobacco Road locations, Smoking Js and Smoker’s Choice.

Investigators also arrested a clerk Thursday at Elemental Trading Company on University Avenue after an undercover agent was sold the illegal product.

However, Smith wanted to make it clear that store clerks are not the target of the crackdown, but rather getting synthetic pot off the streets is.

“We do not want the clerks to be the ones that get punished here, but we will if we have to,” he said.

More undercover operations are planned, he added.

“We’re going to be watching,” he said. “We’re going to be out there keeping an eye on it and making sure the letter of the law is being followed with this stuff to get it out of here.”

Jeannine Kelley, co-founder of a local anti-synthetic pot group, happened on the raid at the Smokin’ Js on 50th Street. She said she was surprised by how quickly the DA’s office acted.

“Not in our wildest dreams had we expected that it was going to be this quick; that they were going to act like this,” said Kelley, co-founder of Warriors Against Synthetic Pot, which was formed as a support group earlier this year for families impacted by the effects of synthetic pot.

Its members have protested in front of smoke shops they believed were selling synthetic pot and have reached out to city officials to stop the sale of the substance in the city.

Kelly said her group has protested in front of the store several times.

Seeing investigators load the contraband in their vehicles made her happy and frustrated, she said.

“I had no clue how much they had in there; it frustrates me,” she said. “It makes me extremely angry to know that there was that much in there, that they sell that much, that they have that huge of a call for it that they would have that much inventory at one time that they could go in there and remove from the store.”

She said she hopes Thursday’s bust convinces stores who still sell the products to stop.

But she has her doubts.

“Unfortunately, they’ve known for a long time what this product does to people, so obviously they have no conscience,” she said. “I don’t think that this is going to stop it until they raid them all.”

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As far as prosecuting these cases, You have to define an illegal substance unambiguously and specifically before you ban it. And if the chemical structure is modified enough, then you have a new product that is not illegal, yet. So enterprising business people can keep a step ahead of the law by playing with their chemistry sets.

And if the DA raids an establishment to confiscate what is not yet an illegal drug, then the DA is breaking the law and harassing local businesses.

In terms of total harm to the community, in lives ruined or ended, the most harmful thing these shops sell is tobacco. How many Lubbockites have died from lung cancer or COPD or other conditions exacerbated by smoking tobacco? Since 1900, likely over a half million. Compare that to the death toll for "synthetic marijuana."

Tobacco is addictive. As addictive as heroin or cocaine or a number of other substances that are illegal to sell, buy, or possess. And nearly every tobacco addict became addicted when young. Yes, some of these "synthetic marijuana" concoctions may offer more immediate and certain danger than slow miserable death 40 years down the road, but does that justify targeting one deadly substance and leaving others to be sold?

If a few people get sick because they ate undercooked hamburger, there is a great nationwide fuss and tons of product is recalled. If we are that concerned about health, why is tobacco being sold?

I'm wondering why we don't get demonstrators in front of stores selling tobacco or alcohol. If we did, then perhaps in time we might have tobacco and alcohol sales banned as well.

Why focus on the drug dealer when death is legally sold all around us? And if we are going to be libertarian on tobacco and alcohol, them why are we not on marijuana synthetic or field-grown?

@teshaw--Your argument holds no water. I've never heard of anyone dropping dead from a heart attack after smoking a cigarette or even a reefer. People have strokes, panic attacks that lead to death, uncontrolled violence, etc.from smoking this stuff. They become so psychotic that they are a danger to themselves and anyone around them. Many a psychotic event that requires intervention has been attributed to people trying this poison for the first time and losing their mind. I know of one idiot/drug addict who stupidly decided to smoke this chemical poison and had to be revived twice...CPR, the works and swore to never touch the stuff again. Had his girlfriend not been with him, he'd be dead. She knows how to administer CPR. Teshaw, you and the scum who can sleep at night while profiting from this junk that is sold to our young people should have to experience the above mentioned...better yet you should smoke one of those babies and see how you react...and then tell us about it right here on this forum.

"Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own." Jonathan Swift "I don't care to belong to a club that accepts people like me as members." Groucho Marx

What you describe is a lot like acute alcohol poisoning. And too, as little as half a gram of nicotine can be fatal.

But you didn't read what I wrote. I said some of these synthetics "offered more immediate and certain danger" than tobacco or alcohol, which is what you said. In total deaths and ruined health "synthetic pot" is way behind tobacco and alcohol.

Something need to be talked about here that has not been. Calling these substances "synthetic marijuana" or "synthetic pot" is part of the problem. Natural marijuana is far less dangerous, and when parents, police and the DA misuse the term "synthetic pot" one thing they accomplish is to cause more young people to try it. "Synthetic marijuana" is not marijuana but a far different substance in medical effects.

@A-J--When I read about a raid at a local establishment, crack house, 8-liner joint, etc. in other newspapers, they usually or almost always include the physical address, the proprietor/owner's name, the people charged with the crime including pics or mug shots. Why is that almost always omitted in this media? You used to show pics of the alleged perps, names etc.any time they raided a crack-house, why not these guys? Is your news staff so timid as to exclude these pertinent details in a story. I wanna know the names of the people who are profiting from selling this poison. BTW, thanks LPD, SO, DA Powell. It's a bit late for some victims of this poison, but better late than never.

And for what it's worth teshaw, I agree that the big attraction to this drug has been the designation 'fake marijuana'.